In this lecture Bernier relates how François I of France lived for art. In painting, sculpture, architecture, and decoration, only the best would do; he bought great paintings by Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, and others, while introducing an era of unprecedented elegance to France. She also describes Charles I of England as the greatest and most poetical collector of his day, who sent his scouts to Italy to bring back art masterpieces by Raphael, Leonardo, Mantegna, and Tintoretto.

Every year, the renowned lectures given by Rosamond Bernier at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are sold out months in advance. Her lectures are really conversations, intimate chats about artists, their friends, their society, and their work. With this series of DVDs, your chair at home can become the seat you couldn't buy in New York, as you watch the actual performances filmed as they were given "Live at the Met." As cofounder of L'Oeil, the influential vanguard art magazine published in Paris, Bernier became friendly with Matisse, Picasso, Miró, Léger, Braque, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Duchamp, and many other modern masters. These lectures have a depth that only a firsthand acquaintance would allow.